Folding wall seat



Nov. 6, 1951 J. E. TURNER 2,574,302

FOLDING WALL SEAT Filed Oct. 24, 1949 Jill/us Turner INVENTOR,

BY Mai/fizzy ATTORNEY l aten teci Nov. 6, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE FOLDING WALL SEAT Julius E. Turner, Oklahoma City, Okla.,as'signoi' of one-half to Robert S. Turner, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Application October 24, 1949, Serial No. 123,185

12 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to seats of the built-in type which areswingably mounted to the wall of a room.

Built-in wall seats, when not in use, are ordinarily adapted to bemanually swung upwardly into a wall niche, so that they do not occupyany room space. Most of such seats are provided with some .sort of amovable support for their outer ends, when they are swung downwardly andoutwardly into position to be occupied by a person.

One of such seats is disclosed in United States patent numbered1,754,501, which was issued April 15, 1930, to Ernest G. Covell. Thedown- Wardly swinging leg of such a seat may at times fail to beproperly aligned in a vertical position beneath the seat when a personsits down, and when this occurs, an accident may happen to injure eitherthe person, the seat, or both.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a verticallyswinging wall seat, in which a supporting leg is positively actuatedinto and out of seat supporting position when the seat is swungdownwardly and upwardly, respectively.

Another further object is to provide a simple yet positive means forswinging the supporting leg.

An additional object is to provide a seat of this class in which the legoperative mechanism is completely concealed, and in which the leg whenin retrieved position nests within an opening or pocket within the seat,and lies flush with the outer surface thereof, thus presenting a smoothsurface to the room.

Another object of the invention is to provide a seat of this class whichmay be cushioned or upholstered, without interfering with the legoperating mechanism.

Other objects will be apparent from the following description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying single sheet of drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a wall having a framedniche, the seat of the present invention being hinged to the frame atthe lower end of the niche, and the seat being shown in its downwardlyswung or extended position;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the wall and seat, the seatbeing shown in partially extended position;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view detailing the leg connectinghinge and a portion of the leg actuating thrust rod; and,

Figure, 4 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the two seatsupporting hinges.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures ofthe drawings in which they occur.

In the drawings:

In the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the seat ofthe present invention is shown operatively installed beneath aconventional telephone wall niche, so that a person may be seated whileusing the telephone, not shown. 7

In carrying out the invention, a rectangular wall cavity I is formedbeneath the conventional telephone supporting shelf 2, and the cavity Iis of sufficient depth to nest the seat 3 of the present invention.

The seat 3 consists substantially of a rectangular wall panel 4 whichhas its lower end pivotally connected upon a horizontal axis in thelower end portion of the wall opening I. The panel 4 is thereforeadapted to be swung upwardly and downwardly upon its axis and when inits uppermost position, is adapted to be latched flush with the wallsurface by a suitable spring bolt 5. The cavity I has a horizontalbottom or floor 6 upon which is rigidly positioned an arcuate wear plateI. The center portion of the panel 4 is cut out to form a rectangular orelongated opening 8 which extends upwardly from the bottom edge of thepanel, but which does not reach the top edge thereof. A rectangular leg9 has its upper end pivotally connected in the upper end of the opening8 so that it may swing on a horizontal axis.

As a means for hingedly mounting the panel 4 to the wall surface beneaththe niche or wall cavity I, there are provided two or more identicalhinges 28. One of such hinges is illustrated in Fig. 4, and consists oftwo conventional hinge plates 2I and 22 pivotally connected together bya hinge-pin 23. The central part of the hingepin 23 is surrounded by ahelical spring 24 which is adapted to swing the panel 4 upwardly intothe wall cavity I. The seat 3 is therefore normally retained in the wallcavity l by action of the springs 24.

As best illustrated in Fig. 2, the upper surface of the wear plate I isconcave. The purpose for making the wear plate concave will be morefully described hereinbelow.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings is shown a hinge 25 which connects the upperend of the leg 9 to the panel 4 at the upper end of the opening 8, andwhich acts as the horizontal axis therefor.

Mounted upon the inner surface of the panel 4, and lying parallel to oneside edge of the opening 8, is an elongated leg actuating rod I0 havingits lower end projecting below the lower edge of the panel 6. The rod I0is movable longitudinally within a pair of bearing brackets I I whichare held with screws to the inner surface of the panel. The rod II] hasan abrupt enlargement I2 which forms an annular shoulder. A compressionspring I3 surrounds the rod I0 between the shoulder I2 and the bearingII, so

that the rod is resiliently urged to travel toward its lowermost end.The projecting end portion of the rod [9 is indicated by the referencenumeral I4, and the end Mis adapted to bear against the upper arcuatesurface of the wear plate I, when the panel is swung upwardly. As thepanel 4 is swung upwardly, and as the end [4 of the rod l contacts thewear plate 1, the rod I0 is moved toward the free end of the panelagainst the action of the spring [3.

The upper or outermost end of the rod I0 is connected to the upper endof the leg element 9 by a pivot pin l5 and an ear or link [6 which formsa part of the hinge 25.

When the panel 4 is moved from its upper or closed posiiton, the spring13 urges the rod away from the free end of the panel, and swings the leg9 downwardly into a vertical position, so as to support the panel in ahorizontal position, in which position it may act as a seat. When thepanel is raised, the projecting end [4 of the rod ID contacts the wearplate I and urges the rod toward the free end of the panel, and thusswings the leg 9 into closed or nesting position within the opening 8.The operating mechanism on the inside surface of the panel 4 may behidden by an upholstered pad ll.

When the pad I1 is once installed, the leg actuating mechanism iscompletely hidden, except for a portion of the wear plate I, and theprojecting end portion M of the thrust rod l0. When the seat is in itsnormal position, it nests flatly within the wall niche I, and the leg 9nests flatly within the panel opening 8, and fills the same. The seattherefore presents a fiat surface toward the room in which it isinstalled.

It is pointed out that the leg 9 is positively actuated in bothdirections by the rod l0.

Obviously the invention is susceptible to some change or alterationwithout defeating its practicability, and I therefore do not wish to beconfined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and describedherein, further than I am limited by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A wall seat including: a panel having its lower end hinged to a wallabove a floor, whereby the panel may be swung downwardly from a verticalposition parallel to the wall, to a horizontal position outstanding fromthe same; a leg hinged at its upper end to the upper central portion ofthe panel; spring means for urging the leg to a verticalpanel-supporting position beneath the panel when the panel assumes ahorizontal position; and means for maintaining said leg in a verticalposition as the panel is moved to a vertical position along the wall.

2. Structure as specified in claim 1, in which said maintaining meansincludes: a longitudinally extending movable rod on the panel having itslower end projecting beyond the lower end of the panel and adapted tocontact an upwardly facing surface carried by the wall, said rod havingits other end pivotally connected to the hinged end of the leg.

3. Structure as specified in claim 2, in which the urging meansincludes: a spring engaging the rod and the panel, and urging the rodtoward the downward end of its travel.

4. Structure as specified in claim 1, and: spring means for returningthe panel from a horizontal to a vertical position when weight isremoved therefrom.

5. Structure as specified in claim 1, in which the panel is providedwith a nest for receiving the leg, when the panel is in its upwardlyswung position.

6. A wall seat including: a panel having its lower end hingedlyconnected to a wall above a floor and adapted to be swung downwardlyfrom a vertical position in a wall niche to a horizontal positionoutstanding from said wall; a leg hingedly connected at its upper end tosaid panel; spring means for urging the leg to vertical position beneaththe panel to support the same when the panel assumes its horizontalposition; and means for maintaining said leg in a vertical position asthe panel is moved to a, vertical position within said niche.

7. Structure as specified in claim 6, in which said maintaining meansincludes: a longitudinally extending movable rod on the panel having itslower end projecting beyond the lower end of the panel and adapted tocontact the floor of said niche, said rod having its other end pivotallyconnected to the hinged end of the leg.

8. Structure as specified in claim 6, and: spring means for returningthe panel from a horizontal to a vertical position when weight isremoved therefrom.

9. Structure as specified in claim 8, in which said returning meansincludes: springs associated with the panel mounting hinges.

10. Structure as specified in claim 6, in which the panel is providedwith a nest for receiving the leg, when the panel is in its upwardlyswung position.

11. In a wall seat, the combination with a wall having a niche, with apanel having a horizontal hinged connection to the wall at the lower endof said niche, and with a leg having its upper end hingedly connected tothe panel, of means for maintaining the leg in a vertical position asthe panel is swung from a vertical position in the niche to a horizontalposition in which it projects laterally from the wall, said meansincluding: a longitudinally extending rod slidably mounted on the panel,said rod having its lower end projecting beyond the panel to contact thebottom of said niche when the panel is in closed or partially closedposition, and having its other end pivotally connected to the hinged endof said leg; and spring means for urging the rod toward the bottom ofsaid niche.

12. A wall seat including: a panel having its lower end hinged to a wallabove a floor, whereby the panel may be swung downwardly from a verticalposition parallel to the wall, to a horizontal position outstanding fromthe same; an elongated opening formed in the panel; a leg hinged at itsupper end to the panel adjacent the upper end of said opening, andadapted to nest therein; means for urging the leg to a verticalpanel-supporting position beneath the panel when the panel is swung to ahorizontal position; and means for maintaining said leg in a verticalposition as the panel is moved to a vertical position along the wall.

JULIUS E. TURNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 286,891 Abbot Oct. 16, 1883939,937 Winans Nov. 9, 1909 1,655,516 Simpson Jan. 10, 1928 2,257,211Willoughby Sept. 30, 1941

